Effect of health empowerment programme on learning outcome regarding prevention of gynaecological cancers among tribal women – A Mixed method approach

Women in India represent an especially vulnerable group for cancer due to the low priority to health, and barriers in access to healthcare among them for various reasons. The tribal population is an integral part of India’s social diversity and has the second largest concentration after that of the African continent. To prevent neglect or poor adherence of cancer treatment due to lack of correct knowledge and presence of incorrect information, there is a need to find out all these myths and misconceptions present in the society. Therefore, this study will be conducted to explore the myths and beliefs regarding cancer and its treatment and the effectiveness of a health empowerment programme on learning outcome regarding prevention of gynaecological cancers  among women in a selected tribal area in Trivandrum. A mixed method sequential exploratory design will be used for the study. The study will be conducting in the tribal area of Kuttichal Panchayat, Nedumangad Taluk, Trivandrum district. Non probability purposive sampling technique will be used. Initially  the researcher will conduct an open ended semi structured interview to identify the myths and beliefs regarding cancer and its treatment. The data collection  will be carried out in depth by the researcher herself with participants until data saturation is reached. After the qualitative phase, the structured knowledge questionnaire, attitude scale and preventive practice checklist  will be administered to participants  who meet inclusion criteria to both experimental and control group. The health empowerment programme will be administered to only to experimental group on the first day of data collection  and the first post-test will be conducted one week after  intervention and second post-test will be conducted after 3 months for experimental and control group.